From Drag civic to Eco fighter

[foxhound]

yeah i hope the phrase "eco fighter" catches on. took like a day to settle on a name for this build. I felt that eco fighter was good fitting name for a car battling aero and mechanical accomplishment. well whats funny about this build is that im going to incorporate many things that ive learned over the yrs from race cars. Majority will come from LMP prototypes, import drag cars, drift cars, and crazy as it sounds old hot rods. there is so much useful data in the racing industry that can be applied in our applications to get better fuel mileage. You need to look at race cars as a whole. a simplified version of a street car. Now they have one purpose and that is to go faster than the other cars. But how do they do it. Hp, suspension, tires and aero. well really three out of four is very useful for me. LRR tires-fight friction,better suspension to help make adjustments and put what power i have down more efficiently, and using from the oldest to newest aero designs. i wouldnt say that im going to base this car on a 1930's design. I would put more on either the aerotech or a lmp car. By the way everybody should go on youtube and watch the video on the aerotech's being testing on the coarse in texas. Get ready to be amazed at the top speed difference between the short tail( very similar to lmp) and the long tail(boat tail). now keep in mind this is a turbo charged 4 cylinder. Im not sure if that record still stands. Aero make a huge difference.
For anybody who wants some very helpful reading material ive bought these books in the last few months just for this build:
COMPETITION CAR AERODYNAMICS VERSION 1 AND 2-version 2 has more useful data and real world applications
CHASIS ENGINEERING-great car layout design
COMPETITION CAR COMPOSITES-tons of carbon fiber and composites info
RACE CAR AERODYNAMICS-again great book for formulas and design
COMPOSITE MATERIALS FABRICATION HANDBOOK 1and 2-really good mold making process
SHEETMETAL FABRICATION for beginners and pros by eddie paul- this guy is a genious at metal forming and shapes

And a question for you readers and i havent figured it out on the forum yet. is there a way to paste a photo directly to the page instead to the attachments at the bottom. for future photos it will be easier to explain what im doing.

[JMPVW73]

I’ve been thinking about your project and believe the chop top will be a step in the wrong direction because you made this statement.

Originally Posted by foxhound

im going to make molds of most of my stuff so i would be willing to build and sell extras.

The 92-95 Civic is currently in the 15-20 year old sweet spot for a kit car building platform.
The original owners are gone and second owner reliable transportation guy is stepping up to a 5-7yo car. It’s starting to be forgotten by the performance enthusiast crowd. It is now falling into the end user category.
Cars and parts are readily available. It has a strong aftermarket supply for anything you may want or need.
It is a popular platform for hypermiling!
No one makes an ultra low drag coefficient body kit!


A chop top will alienate your customer base!
I think the best course of action is to make a full bolt on body kit that anyone with a basic tool set can install over a weekend!

This will have a much larger potential market than the fastback truck bed topper guy on here has. You have indicated that you are able to and will be making molds for large fiberglass panels. If you can spray 1, you can spray 1000.

You can make several versions of this.

The basic kit could be a comet tail that replaces the rear hatch only. It would bolt on and open and shut like factory. A reshaped front bumper cover could also be included.

A full kit could be a more extreme comet tail that replaces the rear hatch, tail lights and bumper cover and could extend further back.
Front would be a pointy nose that mates up flush to hood slope.

Instead of doing a 4” chop top you could change the slope of the hood to equal a 4” rise at the windshield or equal with the top of the mirrors. I think reduced drag gains would be similar to a chop top. I don’t know if there is a lower AS-1 line but I have seen many cars with decals down there and it won’t affect visibility for most drivers. Front edge of hood would be same as stock so nose piece fits either and hood is an option.

You can also make fender skirts, mirror deletes and numerous other accessories.

Attached photo is Aerocivic with a longer nose and the hood rise. Back is extended and I chopped in an inverted factory hatch glass which will work for a whale tail like the Oldsmobile has. Slide it a little further back on the slope and it could line up nicely with projected top and bottom curve of side windows.

Skyl4rk, this web site has suddenly changed me from normal guy to ultranerd in 5 days!

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by foxhound

Two words where this is going Oldsmobile Aerotech

Cool !
I really hope you'll succeed

And a question for you readers and i havent figured it out on the forum yet. is there a way to paste a photo directly to the page instead to the attachments at the bottom. for future photos it will be easier to explain what im doing.

If they are already hosted somewhere on the 'net, you can use the "image button" and paste the link in the dialog box that'll pop up.

[JMPVW73]

like this?


or this?


You need 5 posts to insert photos.

[foxhound]

well right now the car would be in a prototype stage. So would be more focused on getting results than a customer base. mirror deletes can be bought a certain site. i will post tomorrow. oh yeah the raised hood idea we have been using that in drifting for a while now. basic if used with the underpanel under the engine, you force the incoming air for the grill to either exit at either a small opening under the engine or the gap now open under the hood. this process has been seen to drop engine temps up to 40 degrees. plus nobody company deisign a really normal or dull prototype to get the customers attention. they always get them hyped up with a wild concept then build the dull boring car. there is some numbers ive been throwing around in my head and other reasons for the chop just give me a couple of weeks to explain i promise i wont let you down. I always have a reason for doing something. im not just one of those guys who throws out wild ideas and doesnt live up to it.

[foxhound]

yeah the red kodiak was built by reds in miami my truck looks exactly the same but not lowered. yet. there is a hot rod shop out of dallas that building me a one off front a arms for the truck. oh yeah those are the new tahoe headlights on there dont really like those. i bought new silverado headlights for mine. just havent got to it yet.

[foxhound]

ok guys spent some of my good A.F. money today. Or mayby i should say your money? 4-2-1 header, fidanza 7lbs flywheel,stainless clutch line to match the omni master cylinder and new slave cylinder, ARP ultra torque assembly lube, HOP eg mirror blocks finally ordered-icb motorsports 47.00, and 193.00 at oreillys. all that was gaskets,plugs, wires, lubes. u know the usual. Now this may sound weird but ive been on a deployment for the last 9 months and finally get to go home in 12 days. Thank God. So all ive been doing is reading, formulas, TIG, Lathes, Mills, trig and ordering parts i would say partying but need to keep professional. So thats y there has been a bunch of talk on my end. Cant wait for more action.

[basjoos]

Originally Posted by foxhound

back to mpg if could get 70's on interstate 65mph that would be bad@ss. but i dont think that is possible. but i will push this car to the limit!

Since I have no problem averaging 70's mpg at 65mph and 60's mpg at 80mph in my car, you should be able to do that or better in a smooth surfaced Civic with a shape similar to mine.

The reason the metalwork on my car looks like a WWII bomber is because that is the aircraft technology I borrowed when building my car. It is older, inexpensive technology that can be easily worked on out in the backyard, even out in the rain. One of my criteria when building my car was all of the mods had to pay for themselves in fuel savings, so I'm not spending $500 on a mod that will only save $100 in gas over 100,000 miles even though that mod would give me slightly better mileage. Also I 'm not going to spend 6 months building the perfect sleek fiberglass boattail that tomorrow some careless driver could rear end and and destroy (which has already happened to me once) when I can spend 1 week building a metal monocoque boattail that will perform almost as well. My car was built as a cost effective daily driver, not as a concept or show car. I wish you luck, it will be interesting to see what a smooth fiberglass version of my car could do in high speed mileage.

[JMPVW73]

I don’t think I or Fox meant any disrespect with our comments. We are the new kids here so you may not know where we are coming from. I’m actually interested in seeing your car in person as we are from the same area.

Originally Posted by basjoos

The reason the metalwork on my car looks like a WWII bomber is because that is the aircraft technology I borrowed when building my car. It is older, inexpensive technology that can be easily worked on out in the backyard, even out in the rain.

Your response matches my thoughts exactly and that was the design criteria in WWII. Fast and cheap, build today fight tomorrow. Your taillight/license area makes me think of a tail gunner position or better the front end of a factory built ecomod, the Citroen SM!



http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/citroen-sm/187642

Fox has already spent $1k he will never recoupe in fuel savings and I will be doing the same.

[jedi_sol]

Originally Posted by JMPVW73

Fox has already spent $1k he will never recoupe in fuel savings and I will be doing the same.

He'll make up the $1K EVENTUALLY. It took me 86 fills (or 2yrs) to save almost $900.